Review: The Fabled Earth

The Fabled Earth by Kimberly Brock
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell
Presented by Harper Collins Focus

A sprawling, tangled weave of lives and stories.

I enjoyed it, but I did tune out a couple of times.

This is a historical fiction that follows three different women in two different times - Cleo in 1932, then again in 1959 alongside Frances and Audrey. They've all found themselves on Cumberland Island for different reasons, but their paths inextricably intertwine.

I enjoyed the flicking between times, and meeting Cleo at two very different points in life. It was fascinating to see how the times and events had changed her, and our first meeting left quite an impact that echoed well throughout the story.

Frances and Audrey were equally interesting characters, though admittedly not quite as fascinating to me.

There's a mystery and dead boys looming over everything, so there's a drive to get to the bottom of things there and work out what happened. Once it was solved, however, I felt the story dragged on a little. I think part of that may be because I tuned out a little, so had no burning desire to see what became of everyone afterwards.

The narration was decent and eloquent, but never particularly inspiring. The characters sounded similar, and nothing in the narration really stood out for me. It was okay, but I think it was part of the reason I found myself tuning out.

With that in mind, I think this would make a really excellent physical read. I think there's a lot of substance in the details here, so reading physically would really draw out that pleasure.

For fans of historical fiction, this is an excellent read. The characters are well rounded, and the writing will thoroughly drag you in. The fables were a little lacking for my tastes, but the story was entertaining enough to survive it and I found myself getting caught up in events easily.

With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC

View all my reviews